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Which Came First?


pagetheoracle

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Is man intelligent because he has a big brain or did his body form (bipedal / opposable thumb) allow him to explore the world and create within it, allowing his mind to grow through experience?

I think you commit a false dichotomy with this statement, Page – humans are as we are – beyond reasonable challenge more intelligent than any other species on Earth - because of many factors, among them large brains, bipedalism, and opposable thumbs.

 

Another important trait that I think it too often overlooked the extraordinary – among primates – vocal precision and versatility of humans. This may in turn be due to the anatomical change to the human trachea and larynx that occurred when we became full-time bipeds. This theory is, to the best of my knowledge, still speculative, with little fossil or other physical data to support it, but I’ve long found it an enticing one – see this 2005, this 2007, and this 2007 post for more from me on this.

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Is man intelligent because he has a big brain or did his body form (bipedal / opposable thumb) allow him to explore the world and create within it, allowing his mind to grow through experience?

Are you asking whether cranial size increased prior to bipedalism?  The thumb seems to have come before both, and brains came before bipedalism according to the Smithsonian:

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive

 

Pretty easy question to answer with a google search. 

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Well there you are then

 

Are you asking whether cranial size increased prior to bipedalism?  The thumb seems to have come before both, and brains came before bipedalism according to the Smithsonian:
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive

Pretty easy question to answer with a google search. 

Well there you are then - maybe I should have kept my big mouth, tiny mind and opposable thumb from idle questioning!

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